SENECA - College of Stoic Philosophers

EPISTLE LXXX.
man smiles more often and more genuinely
;
his
troubles do not go deep down ;
even if any anxiety
comes upon him, it passes like a fitful cloud. But
the merriment of those whom men call happy is
feigned, while their sadness is heavy and festering,
and all the heavier because they may not meanwhile
display their grief, but must act the part of happiness
in the midst of sorrows that eat out their very
hearts. I often feel called upon to use the following
illustration, and it seems to me that none expresses
more effectively this drama of human life, wherein
we are assigned the parts which we are to play so
badly. Yonder is the man who stalks upon the stage
with swelling port and head thrown back, and says
:
Lo, I am he whom Argos hails as lord,
Whom Pelops left the heir of lands that spread
From Hellespont and from th' Ionian sea
E'en to the Isthmian straits."
And who is this fellow ? He is but a slave ;
his
wage is five measures of grain and five denarii.
Yon other who, proud and wayward and puffed
up by confidence in his power, declaims :
Peace, Menelaus, or this hand shall slay thee a
!
receives a daily pittance and sleeps on rags. You
may speak in the same way about all these dandies
whom you see riding in litters above the heads of
men and above the crowd ;
in every case their
happiness is put on like the actor's mask. Tear it
off, and you will scorn them.
When you buy a horse, you order its blanket to
be removed ;
you pull off the garments from slaves
that are advertised for sale, so that no bodily flaws
may escape your notice if ;
you judge a man, do you
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